Agosto, V., & Roland, E. (2018). Intersectionality and educational leadership: A critical review. Review of Research in Education, 42(1), 255–285. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/0091732X18762433
Introduction to Intersectionality in K-12 Educational Leadership:
Researchers use Intersectionality to analyze inequities confronted by leadership practice.
Traditions and trends in educational leadership research incorporate Intersectionality to inform transformative leadership.
Linda, individualism, and knowledge relations lead to three interrelated findings regarding the use of Intersectionality.
Evolution of Leadership Concepts:
Leadership theories historically favored organizational goals and transactional management, shifting to leader-centric views.
Leadership, predominantly led by white Protestant heterosexual men, reflected notions of masculinity, heteronormativity, and white supremacy.
In the late 80s, critical theory grounded leadership research, aiming for social transformation.
Frameworks of Transformative Leadership:
Transformative leadership is constituted by acknowledging power and privilege, deconstructing social and cultural knowledge, and balancing critique and promise.
Shields' approach emphasizes awareness, reflection, analysis, and action.
Transformation requires addressing systemic issues and demonstrating moral courage and activism.
Intersectionality as an Analytical Tool:
Intersectionality traces back to the 60s and is used to analyze overlapping structures of subordination and political consequences of oppression.
It challenges individualism by looking at relational aspects and practices.
It emphasizes experiences of social groups and challenges identitarian frameworks.
Application of Intersectionality in Educational Leadership Research:
Researchers use Intersectionality at individual and interpersonal levels to analyze power relations and self-preservation strategies.
Hybrid conceptions of leadership challenge person-centric notions and advocate for contextualized sociopolitical consciousness.
Sociopolitical consciousness considers critical race and feminist perspectives to address intersecting oppressions and collective agency.
Emergent Knowledge in Educational Leadership:
Intersectionality is considered emergent in educational leadership, with a focus on microlevel analysis and oppositional knowledge projects.
Conceptual clarity is crucial to prevent Intersectionality from becoming a floating signifier.
Transformative leadership and Intersectionality offer recommendations for engaging in social transformation and collective struggles against oppression.
Recommendations for Future Research:
Future studies should focus on conceptual acuity and intersectoral analysis to examine how educational inequities are influenced by multiple sectors and social group identities.
Showunmi, V. (2020). The importance of intersectionality in higher education and educational leadership research. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Leadership Studies, 1(1), 46–63. https://doaj.org/article/159f28f17b8e4c8987c9cb2d5b65734d
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ntersectionality Overview:
Intersectionality acknowledges that individuals have multiple identities and experiences that shape how they perceive the world.
Compliance and legislation often focus on singular labels such as gender or ethnicity, neglecting the complexity of human identity.
Organizations tend to prioritize certain underrepresented groups while excluding others, leading to incomplete diversity efforts.
Complexity and Acceptance in the Workplace:
Recognizes that intersectionality is messy and requires workplaces to accept all aspects of individuals' identities.
Rejects the notion of treating differences as checkboxes and emphasizes the need to ensure everyone thrives in the workplace.
Simplified Approach to Diversity and Inclusion:
Advocates for a simplified approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion that addresses the everyday needs of all individuals regardless of identity.
Argues that embracing intersectionality reduces duplicated efforts, wasted resources, and employee fatigue.
Practical Solutions and Common Goals:
Stresses the importance of practical solutions and collaborative diversity efforts with the common goal of shedding outdated policies and fostering inclusivity.
Highlights the necessity of considering the entirety of individuals' identities rather than focusing solely on single labels.
Agosto, V., & Roland, E. (2018). Intersectionality and educational leadership: A critical review. Review of Research in Education, 42(1), 255–285. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/0091732X18762433
The review article by Agosto and Roland (2018) delves into the application of intersectionality in the context of K-12 educational leadership, focusing on how researchers utilize it to inform transformative leadership and address educational inequities.
Intersectionality is primarily employed for microlevel analysis of inequities encountered in leadership practice. It tends to spotlight individual experiences as leaders and their capabilities, rather than leading practices. Various traditions and trends associated with intersectionality, including critical race theory, feminist theory, critical spirituality, and multiculturalism, are utilized to expose and explain the complexities of social injustice and transform education.
The historical evolution of leadership theories, particularly in the educational context, is discussed, highlighting a shift from organizational goals and transaction management to leader-centric views emphasizing human agency. However, these theories have often been informed by notions of masculinity, heteronormativity, and white supremacy, thus perpetuating existing power structures.
Intersectionality is presented as a tool to engage analytically with interlocking educational injustices, examining structural, political, and representational aspects. It challenges individualism by focusing on relational aspects of human connections and society, emphasizing the experiences of social groups and the oppression they face.
The article explores intersectionality at both individual and interpersonal levels, examining how it influences mentoring experiences, workplace discrimination, and self-preservation strategies among educational leaders. It highlights the importance of understanding one's identity within the broader context of structural power relations.
Researchers challenge the person-centric notion of leadership by proposing a hybrid conception of leader/leadership contextualized within sociopolitical consciousness. This perspective emphasizes collective agency, activism, and resistance to systemic inequalities, particularly through the lens of critical race and feminist perspectives.
Despite the growing recognition of intersectionality in educational leadership, its usage is still emerging, and there is a need for conceptual clarity and contextualized analysis. The review suggests future research should focus on examining and documenting transformative leadership as an oppositional knowledge project, supported by intersectionality, to stimulate new ways of addressing systemic inequities in education.